XP is a great operating system, but it’s not perfect. One of the problems is that it doesn’t have a virtual PC feature. You can’t create one, or even use one, without first installing XP. Fortunately, there’s a way to add a virtual PC to XP. This is done by using the Add/Remove Programs program, and then selecting the Virtual PC tab. You’ll then need to find and select the XP virtual PC you want to add. Once you’ve added the virtualPC, you can use it just like any other XP computer. You can access your files, programs, and data just like any other XP computer.

First of all lets open up the Virtual PC Console and click the Settings button.

This opens up the main configuration screen for your virtual machine.  Here you can increase the amount of RAM, Hard Disk space, network card, etc.  When you have everything configured to your liking click OK.  Don’t worry though we can always go back and make additional changes as necessary.

I am sharing my CD ROM drive with the Virtual PC.  Because of this I turned off the “Auto Play” feature in XP.  You can also choose to use an ISO image if you want.  Now we are off!  98 is being installed on my Virtual Machine.  Just go through the setup of your virtual OS as your would on a hardware PC.

Once the actual installation begins you will get the following message the first time you try to use your mouse for anything in the VM.  Just telling you how to capture the pointer in the VM and the keyboard shortcut to release it.

Just another screenshot showing the progress of the installation on the Virtual Machine.  Oh the memories!

The virtual machine works just like the real deal, so of course you get to enter in the legendary product key.  Once you go through all the normal set up you have your virtual machine!  Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 also works with Vista.  If you have a beefy enough machine I would recommend using some type of virtual machine versus the dual boot method.  VM’s just make things much easier to manage.

title: “How To Add A Virtual Pc To Xp” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-24” author: “Joan Whitson”

XP is a great operating system, but it’s not perfect. One of the problems is that it doesn’t have a virtual PC feature. You can’t create one, or even use one, without first installing XP. Fortunately, there’s a way to add a virtual PC to XP. This is done by using the Add/Remove Programs program, and then selecting the Virtual PC tab. You’ll then need to find and select the XP virtual PC you want to add. Once you’ve added the virtualPC, you can use it just like any other XP computer. You can access your files, programs, and data just like any other XP computer.

After installing Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 launch the application to set up a new machine.  You are created by the standard Wizard to set up a new machine.  You don’t have to use the Wizard, but it makes simple set up quick.

For this part of the Wizard I just leave the default setting which allows me to set up a basic configuration.  Click Next.

Name your Virtual Machine.

Select the Operating System you want to install.  As you can see MS is the flavor of the day.

Because I want to be a real nerd I am installing Windows 98 for this article.  Of course you can install whatever you want.  Now we need to adjust the RAM.  Remember your using the host PC’s memory so allot accordingly.  Click Next.

Since this is the first time setting up this virtual machine we want to select “A new virtual hard disk”.  Click Next.

Now we need to choose what size to make the virtual disk drive.  Since I am doing a 98 virtual machine I am only going to create a 2GB drive.  Click Next.

After you verify all the settings go ahead and click on Finish.

OK.  At this point we have everything set up.  The next step is to install the Operating System.  I will cover that and more features of Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 in the next segment of this tutorial.